Pizarro: It’s cherry festival weekend in Sunnyvale

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A bucket of cherries is ready for packing during the Olson's Cherry Festival on May 26, 2013, in Sunnyvale, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group Archives)

Contests grab cherries for the "Cherry Pit Spitting Contest" during C.J. Olson's Annual Cherry Festival in Sunnyvale, Calif. on Sunday, May 29, 2011. There were two contests (12:00 and 3:15) with three age groups during the day, each spitter had two chances to spit as far as they could. This was the 13th year of the celebration for the Olson family, who have preserved their family farm in the city's center for more than 110 years. (Nhat V. Meyer/Mercury News)

Arman Sadigh, 13, from Sunnyvale, wins the "Cherry Pit Spitting Contest," 11-17 age group with a spit of 15'9" during C.J. Olson's Annual Cherry Festival in Sunnyvale, Calif. on Sunday, May 29, 2011. There were two contests (12:00 and 3:15) with three age groups during the day, each spitter had two chances to spit as far as they could. This was the 13th year of the celebration for the Olson family, who have preserved their family farm in the city's center for more than 110 years. (Nhat V. Meyer/Mercury News)

We’re in the thick of cherry season and that means it’s time for the annual cherry festival this weekend at C.J. Olson’s historic stand in Sunnyvale.

This is the 18th annual Olson’s Cherry Festival, though the family has been selling fruit since 1899.

All the familiar activities will be taking place Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There’ll be cherry pancakes for early arrivals, cherry-pitting and pit-spitting contests as well as live music from the Hot Rods on Saturday and Chico & the Band on Sunday.

Deborah Olson, the fourth-generation owner who celebrates her May birthday at the festival each year, will be giving tours of the orchard each day at 11 a.m. Visitors can enjoy birthday cake on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. for as long as it lasts.

The stand is at 348 W. El Camino Real, but if you need directions or more information, you can get them at www.cjolsoncherries.com or by calling 800-738-2464. By the way, those last four digits spell out “BING.”

CREATURE FEATURE: The Silicon Valley Capital Club was crawling with critters Wednesday as Happy Hollow Park & Zoo was the beneficiary of the club’s monthly celebrity bartender fundraiser. Conservation Ambassadors CEO David Jackson and Happy Hollow’s Vanessa Rogier were pouring wine alongside members of the San Jose band A Yawn Worth Yelling, but the real celebrities were the animal visitors from Conservation Ambassadors’ zoo in Paso Robles.

There was a Burmese python named Severus, an owl named Zsophia, a porcupine named Momo and a screechy lemur called Peeves. A hawk flew a few laps through the long ballroom, and helpers carried around a baby kangaroo and a giant toad.

Club members who get jittery around animals can rest assured they all made it home.

A SMART WOMAN’S TOUCH: 49ers CEO Jed York says his wife, Danielle York, played an important role in the environmental development of the 49ers’ state-of-the-art Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. “I grew up in Ohio,” York told the San Jose Rotary Club this week, “and my wife’s farther to the left than I knew the left could be when I was growing up. She helped make sure we weren’t doing things just for the sake of advertising. We wanted to be functionally green.”

And while nobody needed to tell the 49ers to double the number of women’s restrooms compared to what Candlestick Park had, the fact that Danielle and their 19-month-old son, Jaxon, would be attending games put a spotlight on the food that’ll be served there. “We spent a lot of time figuring out how we’ll feel comfortable with him eating at games,” York said. “We wanted to be sure to put that kind of emphasis on making this a great California product.”

Sal Pizarro has written the Around Town column for The Mercury News since 2005. His column covers the people and events surrounding the cultural scene in Silicon Valley. In addition, he writes Cocktail Chronicles, a feature column on Silicon Valley bars and nightclubs.